Large Lokotrack for Kone-Kostamo

Metso LT550GPF improves productivity by 30% for one of Finland’s largest crushing contractors

MAXIMIZING productivity is a key issue when striving for cost-effective quarrying, and large Lokotracks are one way to achieve improved operational efficiency, say Metso.

For example, the Lokotrack LT550GPF, a customized mobile unit equipped with the high-volume GP550 cone crusher and a large screen, is popular in the Nordic countries and in Germany and Australia – countries all known for their high quarrying volumes.

‘With the same number of employees, we can achieve 30% more productivity with our new LT550GPF unit, and the high-capacity FS screen has also eliminated the bottleneck often seen at fine screening,’ said Aarno Kostamo, managing director of Kone-Kostamo Oy, one of Finland’s largest crushing contractors.

According to Mr Kostamo, the high capacity of the GP550 gyratory cone crusher easily handles feed from C120 and C125 jaw crushers.

For the company’s contract with the Talvivaara nickel mine, the LT550GPF is being fed by a brand new Lokotrack LT120 jaw plant.

Talvivaara, Europe’s largest nickel mine, utilizes large quantities of aggregates, and Kone-Kostamo were contracted to produce several million tonnes of different end products for the mine after last year's rainy summer increased the need for gravel along the muddy haul roads, which have to withstand dumptrucks weighing up to 260 tonnes.

In August 2012, some 75,000 tonnes of 0–63mm road stone was crushed, but smaller amounts of finer, 0–6mm, 0–16mm and 0–32mm aggregates are also being produced. Operated in two shifts for a total of 16 hours a day, the LT550GPF logged more than 600 working hours over a two-month period, averaging 300 tonnes/h.